


fourth time's the charm

by midnightsnapdragon



Series: Band of Misfits [3]
Category: Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
Genre: Assassination Attempt(s), Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-10-11 08:30:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20543165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightsnapdragon/pseuds/midnightsnapdragon
Summary: The first time someone tried to assassinate him, Kai was in the middle of an etiquette lesson.





	fourth time's the charm

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to skip past parts i, ii and iii if it suits you; they're just backstory. For the brotp, go directly to part iv.

**i.**

The first time someone tried to assassinate him, Kai had been in the middle of an etiquette lesson.

He was fourteen. Torin – his teacher – had a problem with the young prince's nervous tics, like his habit of gesturing with cutlery during dinner conversation.

"No, no, _no_," he would snap, interrupting Kai's practised small talk. "Don't wave your fork around like that, you're bound to paint someone's clothes with a carrot!"

Or, "For goodness' sake, boy, stop clinking with your spoon. It is deemed uncouth." When Kai would protest that it was hard to stir his tea like that, Torin would stare at him across the banquet table, slowly swish the spoon around in his own cup _without making a sound_, and raise his eyebrows as if to say, _there, you see?_

To which Kai would respond by sulking.

A servant came in with a fresh platter of roast duck, what would have been the third course during an actual banquet. The sound of the knife being drawn free was harsh and clear in the wide hall – which was empty but for the teacher, the prince, and the prince's guards, all of whom were looking forward to have some meat be cut for a pretend luncheon. No one thought anything of it until the servant had spun on her heel and the knife was whirling through the air, end over end, directly at Kai's chest.

Several things happened at once. The two guards yanked Kai aside, tipping him over in his chair, as the knife whizzed through empty space. The servant turned to run. And Torin, with strength no one could have suspected of him, gripped his end of the long table and flipped it over, right on the assassin's heels. She crashed to the ground.

One of the guards dashed to subdue her, the other sticking close to the prince. Kai managed to brace himself on one elbow, breathing heavily, and raised his eyes to his etiquette teacher. Torin was already tapping away on his port. In another minute, he had put it away and gave the would-be killer a cool look.

"Now _that_," he said disdainfully, sitting down again with an aristocratic sniff, "was just rude."

**ii.**

Attempt number two happened during the annual peace festival when he was seventeen. Kai had been wandering around for a while with no guards or surveillance whatsoever, all thanks to his gray hoodie. Granted, the chip in his neck meant that they knew where he was at all times, and there were probably a few guards somewhere in the crowd, but at least he didn't have to announce his presence by having them constantly at his back.

Kai cautiously approached a wine-tasting stand. He didn't usually drink, but the spicy aromas emanating from the kiosk just about made his mouth water.

"Try this one," the bearded wineseller encouraged him, holding out a paper cup filled with dark red liquid. "Very good, high quality. From the Silver Isles. Hints of raspberry and lemon." He smiled as Kai took the cup to his mouth and tipped his head back. "You like that sort of flavour, don't you, Your Highness?"

The wine had already passed his lips when Kai remembered that he was incognito. No civilian was supposed to know his identity.

He coughed violently, fearing the worst. It wasn't half a blink before half a dozen guards-dressed-as-partygoers appeared out of nowhere and converged upon the booth. There were yells, there was a crash as a wine barrel was dislodged and rolled down the street, and then there was a black city hover that cut through the crowd and stopped in front of the scene. A medic jumped out and ushered Kai inside. And a good thing, too, because his mind was already going woozy. Once he was safely behind the hover window, an antidote was forced down his throat and he was rushed to the palace without further delay.

Emperor Rikan was furious. Not just with the assassin and the guards who had barely gotten to their charge in time, but with Kai for being so stupid as to taste food or drink at the festival. They had always been so careful after that first attempt, when the servant spy had been _this close_ to killing the crown prince. They had all relaxed after a few years.

It must not happen again, Rikan declared. But of course it happened anyway.

**iii.**

Attempt number three occurred just months after the second and was much more subtle. There had been a dagger and a cup of poisoned wine, both of them one-shots with no backup plan; this time, the enemies of the Commonwealth's royal family tried something else. And they were partially successful.

The plague had spread over the Earth like wildfire over the past nine years or so and even though the Union's scientists had put their heads together to figure out a cure, every effort had fallen short. Letumosis was a wolf in the night that could set upon a city without warning, killing everyone it came into contact with. No one knew where it came from or how it could be stopped. The only certain thing was that once someone contracted the blue fever, they were as good as dead. Perhaps that was why someone made it their weapon of choice.

It must have been that box of paperback books, the doctors told Kai afterward. Someone must have gotten hold of the shipment – specifically requested by the crown prince himself – and programmed an android to take one of the books and keep it in a quarantine for a few days. Once it was infected, the android would put it back, seal the box, and send it on its way to the palace. No one would have actually come into contact with the contents of that box until the prince himself. It would have been screened by machinery and androids, yes, for explosives and such, but he would have been the first to open that book, the first to turn the pages and get whiff after whiff of plagued air.

Except it didn't quite happen like that.

Rikan, too, loved paper books, especially the second-era stories that his son commissioned from rare-book libraries. Evidently, in a bout of fatherly mischief, he had found the box and opened it before Kai. He had probably taken out the book on top and caressed it with the same awe and respect that every third-era person held for something so archaic.

He was dead before the week's end.

Kai never got to read the precious novels he'd so looked forward to. Every one of them was burnt. And when he realised – as he must have, eventually – who the intended victim had been, the weight of guilt was added to his shoulders to rest alongside grief and the new weight of the crown.

**iv.**

There was a certain debate in the Commonwealth that had been going on for quite some time, eventually giving rise to a major civic issue.

Letumosis research was still under way with no antidote in sight. People were getting desperate. New batches of possible cures were cooked up almost daily, but they were tested at an abysmal rate for the lack of human volunteers. (Kai could hardly blame them – who in their right mind would sign their own death sentence by allowing themselves to be infected with the blue fever?) And at the same time, a different kind of controversy had cropped up in the form of the EC's growing cyborg population. Cyborgs had too many advantages, many people argued; they were cheating the average man out of his wages. Some measure had to be taken to even out the scales 

One of Kai's advisors suggested a solution: pick one cyborg every day by lottery and test the antidotes on _them_.

The young emperor was hesitant, but pressure built on him from the many members of his government personnel who thought it was the right thing to do. Kai finally called a meeting with Torin, General Huy, and all the rest of them to discuss the idea of a cyborg draft and make a final decision.

It was a long and frustrating conference. His head ached when he finally left and made his way into the royal suite, flanked by two guards.

They were almost to the lounge when his left guard, Ling, gripped his arm. "Your Majesty."

Kai gave a start. He'd been lost in his own thoughts. Now he pricked his ears and heard what Ling had picked up on first – raised voices, thuds, grunts, the sounds of a tussle.

The guard on his right - Darien - strode up to the doorway and peered around the corner.

"What is it?" said Kai.

"The others have found an intruder." Frowning, Darien turned back to him. "Shall we take him to the captain of the guard, Your Majesty?"

"No, no. I want to see this."

Darien nodded. He and Ling fell into step with him, but just ahead, so that they entered first.

What Kai saw as he rounded the corner was a bit more dramatic than he had been expecting.

Three or four other guards, all of whom were thoroughly disheveled and breathing hard, were struggling to hold down a fifth man who appeared to be in far better shape than they were. Young, maybe in his early twenties, lithe and muscular; the all-black utilitarian getup contrasted sharply with his pale blond hair. And even in his undignified position – trussed up and forced to lie face-down on the carpeted floor – he still managed to retain a cold, composed countenance that rivaled even the emperor.

"Your Majesty," said one of the captors, "this man was caught sneaking in through a nearby window."

"How did he get up?" Ling demanded, from Kai's left. "We're on the fourteenth storey."

The other guard jerked his head at the long, black rappelling cord still pooled at the foot of the couch. It seemed to have snapped somewhere in the middle.

Kai looked at the burglar, who looked back at him, but sideways (his face was still smushed into the carpet). There was a brief pause as they assessed each other.

"So which are you?" Kai asked finally. "Kidnapper, killer or spy?"

Another pause. The burglar's gaze flicked upward, to where the guard was holding his head down.

Kai sighed. "Let him speak."

The guard scowled but eased his grip. The burglar answered, with dignity that was impressive under his circumstances, "I'd be a fool to tell you that, Your Majesty. Make an educated guess."

The corner of Kai's mouth quirked. By his guess … the black-clad man could be any number of the three. He turned to the guards holding him down. "Who is he?"

"He'll say nothing," said one, "but he had this" – a handgun was produced from the guard's belt and offered hilt-first to Ling, who took it with narrowed eyes – "and these" – several knives were removed and placed carefully on a side table – "and this" – a small vial of what was probably poison (_Okay_, Kai thought, _assassin it is_) – "and this." A small portscreen was set down next to the vial. "There was also a small number of weapons in his boots and sleeves. All are engraved with the initials J.C."

"J.C.," Kai repeated, trying it on for size_. Jay-see_. He started to call the man _Jace _in his head.

"Have you checked it for identity?" Darien asked from the emperor's right side, nodding at the port.

"We, uh …" Guard number one was starting to look embarrassed. The tips of his ears went pink as he glanced at his fellows. "We haven't had the chance."

Kai couldn't help raising an eyebrow. No, they wouldn't have had the chance, because all their focus had been on restraining Jace. _He must have put up a fierce fight._ But still, it wouldn't do for their burglar to try to speak through a mouthful of carpet. "Let him sit up."

"Your Majesty," Darien said in a low voice, "he is already dangerous - "

"How much more dangerous could he get, really?"

"Lethal," Jace said serenely.

Ignoring him, Kai motioned at the guards, and they reluctantly allowed the burglar to get to his knees.

"Calling for backup now," Ling muttered, tapping away on his port.

"Is that really necessary?" said Kai, with a dubious look. "He's just one man, and there are six of you."

Jace smiled knowingly.

"Backup would be nice," guard number two admitted.

"Would you check his port?" Kai said to Darien, an indirect command. Darien nodded and took it from the table, but as soon as he powered it on, he was met with a lock screen and the request for a password. "A job for a hacker, then."

"Please," Jace sneered. "It's programmed by the very best."

"_The best_ work with you, do they?"

"That's one way to put it."

Kai clasped his hands behind his back. "So what went wrong?"

"I'm sorry?"

The guards were giving him strange looks, probably because of the relaxed way he was speaking to their arrestee, but Kai couldn't help his honest curiosity. "You work with the best, and from what I see, you're not too shabby yourself when it comes to covert operations. So how did this one get messed up?"

"The rappelling cord." Jace's voice was clinical, dispassionate. "Snapped before I could touch down on the balcony."

"It was faulty, then?"

A slight clenching of the jaw. "And there was supposed to be a guard shift."

"I see." Kai tipped his head. "You know, I'm rather intrigued. The last three attempts on my life were much better funded and prepared."

Jace closed his eyes in mock exasperation. "Tell me about it. How _could_ they have gone wrong?"

"I think they might not have been straightforward enough." Kai glanced down at the burglar's gun, where it had been placed in full sight on the side table. "Clearly you wouldn't have had that problem."

"Probably not."

Okay. They seemed to be on relatively honest terms. Time to ask a real question. "Can you tell me why you want me dead? Or, at least, why others may want me dead?"

"Oh, I wouldn't go quite so far as to say that _I _want you dead, Your Majesty."

"But the other attempts - ?"

"I know that some people didn't think much of how your father ran the country," Jace said flatly. "I know that some people thought it better to cut off your dynasty, than to kill the _esteemed_ Rikan and have you grow up to be just like him. No apple could fall far from the tree, they say." He raised an impassive eyebrow. "I'm just their … emissary."

Kai considered him for a moment.

Then he said to the guards, "You may take him to a holding cell. I'd like to have a proper chat, somewhere we won't be overheard."

Jace narrowed his eyes. "Oh good. I rather want to have a chat, too."

He moved fast. Like, blink-and-you'll-miss-it fast. One moment, the burglar was on his knees, restrained by four guards and monitored by two more; the next, he was on his feet and darting through their ranks with deadly precision. One by one they fell unconscious to the ground. Only Ling had time to give a yell before the handle of a knife slammed into his temple, and his eyes rolled back in his head as he slumped against the couch.

Kai's mouth fell open as his brain caught up with what he saw. He staggered back. He was a fool, an _idiot_. Why on earth had he felt compelled to talk to a captured intruder before the situation was fully under control? Ling had called for backup, but if they hadn't arrived by now, it would be too late when they did.

Jace whirled on him, a blade flashing in each hand. Kai backed away, recalling faintly how the servant girl's knife had whistled through the air when he was fourteen.

"You wanted to know why someone might want you dead," Jace reminded him in a low voice, advancing one step at a time. "Better ask yourself this: why would someone _not_ want you dead? Have you ever wondered why you haven't suffered further assassination attempts, after the plague-infested book?"

Kai could only stare at him in apprehension. What was he getting at?

"Because you are not like your father," Jace answered himself, icy eyes pinning Kai to the wall behind him. "Because most of your people actually like the way you run the Commonwealth, and you didn't disappoint when you took the crown. Even so, there are those who still have their doubts … including myself." He stepped forward again, lifting his chin imperiously so that he could look down his nose at Kai. "So answer me this, _Your Majesty_ … what was the outcome of your meeting?"

"I – what?"

"The _cyborg draft,_" Jace emphasized, with a touch of impatience. "Did you approve it?"

Kai scowled to hide his confusion. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Did. You. Approve it?"

"No. No, I didn't. There won't be a draft. We'll get volunteers some other way."

Jace looked down at him with narrowed eyes. Searched the emperor's face.

Then he gave an abrupt nod of satisfaction. "Good."

"Why do you want to know?" Kai demanded, watching as the would-be assassin spun back toward the table and began tucking knives into his boots, sleeves and belt. "What does it matter?"

"It means everything. Your principles, your value of human life – that draft could prove or disprove what kind of ruler you are." The port was clipped on and the gun hidden away. "In fact, it already has."

"_Has_ it."

Jace turned back to him. His face was as unreadable as ever, but Kai thought he could detect a hint of triumph in the faint twitch of the other's mouth.

"I didn't come here to assassinate you, Your Majesty."

"No?"

"No. Well, half-and-half."

Kai squinted. "What."

"I came to ascertain whether you had approved the draft or not," Jace clarified. "If you had, you would be dead right now and the Commonwealth would be looking for a better emperor. But if you hadn't" – he produced a fragment of paper, _actual paper_, from his pocket – "I would give you this."

Kai snatched away the note. On it was scribbled a time and address. "And what will I be doing at … fifteen-thirty Marsh Street?"

"Meeting your new secret service," said Jace, "and a long-lost princess." He bent down to loop the broken rappelling cord around his arm and walked up to the still-open window. He glanced back at the emperor and said, as if in afterthought, "She would have been very disappointed if you'd chosen to approve the draft."

_Lost princess?_ "Hang on" – Kai looked down at the note again in disbelief, then back up at Jace. "Why should I go? You could be luring me into a trap, for all I know."

Jace snorted. "If I wanted to kill you, Your Majesty …" He gestured around at the unconscious guards. "I would have done it by now. Besides, you're far too valuable to the country." He hitched the spool around his shoulders and prepared to climb through the window. "Never fear. We know how to contact you later. Any last questions?"

_Hundreds_, thought Kai, but a simple start might be just the thing. "What's your name?"

The burglar paused. Seemed to consider it.

"Jacin," he said finally. "Jacin Clay."

An incredulous smile spread over Kai's face. "An alias?"

"No, birth name. Consider it a guarantee of trust. Is something funny?"

"No," said Kai, shaking his head. _Jace, Jacin. What do you know?_ He stuffed the note into his trouser pocket. "Nothing. Tell your princess hi for me."

Jacin rolled his eyes and clambered over the edge of the window. But just before he vanished, Kai could have sworn that he heard him mutter dryly, _"Which one?"_

**Author's Note:**

> Reviews are always appreciated!


End file.
